Gibsonesa? Gibmess? Mesgibb? The Acquisition of Mesa Boogie by Gibson Guitars.

 

 

 I've been thinking about the acquistion of Mesa Boogie-you know, those wild and crazy guys and girls out in Petaluma, California? by Gibson, the recently out of bankruptcy guitar people.

The image is of the three codefendants. (credit Guitarworld).

Of course the bankruptcy was just one in a long line of skedaddles that Gibson has pulled over the years. They bailed from Kalamazoo when I was living there.

Plus, there have been periodic attempts by Gibson in its earlier iterations to come up with a credible alternative to Fender, Silvertone/Danelectro, Valco/National/Supro Ampeg and many other amp manufacturers over the years. 

I mean, you can see the marketing idea there: buy your guitar AND your amp from us in one neat package.

The earlier amps Gibson made in Kalamazoo were pretty good too and I've owned a few-got a couple on the project track in fact. The slant panel silver and black ones from the sixties were OK too.

But the story's one of low  production and general corporate lack of interest. 

Then there were sporadic attempts to cash in like the flailings of a beached whale that knows it's not looking good for getting back to deep water.

I'm speaking of the SG amps that were made and designed by what was left of Standel, hybrids which used that awful 8417 power tube and came to grief.

I resurrected one only to find that the phaser and reverb were defunct and parts to repair them were out of production. Somehow the word got around that I could fix these things, and people occasionally call with a dead one. So I say more or less this speech.

"Before we even try and evaluate your amp or discuss what it needs you will go and find a pair of NEW old stock MATCHED 8417 power tubes. You will pay for them and they will cost you over $200 if you can find them, and there will be NO "used tested", "ANOS", *tests great on my tester I bought when the drugstore closed* or any of that nonsense. And they will be Sylvanias or RCA branded Sylvanias, not GE made 8417s. Then we will go ahead and evaluate what else is wrong with your amp and it will be plenty. All repairs will be on a time and materials basis including me sitting at my desk trying to hunt down nonexistent parts. And when it's all over you will still have something that sounds like crap because they were lousy amps to begin with. Still want to proceed?"

 Then there was the Trace Elliott-Goldtone debacle and then they got out of the business again. Trace Elliott was good stuff but Gibson turned it into a shit show.

So now they're back at it again? A hair of the dog that bit you as the drunks say?

Now they acquired Mesa Boogie last fall but the deal was in the works before that if you look at the assignment dates on Randall Smith's patents. It's from March of 2020.

 I have a theory about this. 

How does a guitar company recently out of bankruptcy finance this deal? 

Answer: With other peoples' money. 

Who are they? VC types, aging hippies who have expensive Gibson guitars but can't really play all that well because they haven't learned their craft. Jeez, it would be cool to have an amp company! 

What will happen? Well, the argument's a little convoluted but I figure there's a lot of talk around the office-God forbid any of these guys would work in the repair depot or on the sales floor-about "synergy" and "leveraging" and "iconic" and "merging resources and working together to create a great new thing" and similar bizspeak chatter. 

In reality, the people who put up the money are going to want to see a substantial ROI sooner than later-the people who actually are the investors will demand it. 

So where do the payments start coming from? I believe Mesa sales are static-growth is limited potential. 

Mesa sells communion wafers to the already converted. 

So: Let's broaden the base and cheapen the product to get the prices down and bring in the dough to pay the VCs. 

Answer: Cooking grade new, less complicated designs will be farmed out to China or Viet Nam and Petaluma will exist only as a rump custom shop and repair depot. 

Coming soon to a Walmart near you, trading on brand name recognition. 

Why do I think this? Marshall Laney Fender Acoustic Vox and on and on and on. They've ALL done it.

Here's some G2. https://www.guitarworld.com/features/jc-curleigh-cesar-gueikian-and-randy-smith-on-gibsons-monumental-acquisition-of-mesaboogie-and-what-it-means-for-the-iconic-brands

The Harmony 189 schematic

 I've had a small Harmony model 189  amp here for repair and I quickly learned there's no schematic available. There were the fragments of one pasted inside the cabinet but the most important parts of it were long gone.

After some looking around I found that the amp was similar in tube lineup to the later Harmony 303-that is, 12SQ7-50L6-35Z5 and the RCA manual tells me this should produce a rockin' 3.8w of raging power.

So I drew up a schematic for the use of interested folks and here it is.

Unlike other series string filament amps both the H189 and the H303 and H303A utilized an isolation transformer which was a significant safety feature. That's not the case with other so called "widowmaker" amps like the 303B which have a live chassis and no isolation. Those amps are unsafe and can deliver a nasty jolt if provoked.

This idea was an outgrowth of what the radio folks call the All American Five-a five tube superhet radio circuit developed by RCA in the prewar era and popularized after the war with a cascade of tabe radios that were cheap and cheerful. The idea was simple. String together filaments to amount to about 117 volts and you can plug right into the wall sans transformer of any kind, thus 12SA7-12SQ7-12SK7-35Z5-50L6.

Of course with guitar amps you don't need the radio stuff so you can omit the 12SA7 and 12SK7 but you need a big resistor to make up the difference and you still have juice on the chassis. If it was a plastic radio that sat on the shelf who cares? But you're connected directly with a guitar cable or worse a microphone.

The only cure is an isolation transformer, and these are readily available. The Triad N68X can be bought from Newark Electronics for as little as fifteen dollars.

 

Lesmania? Lesmanniasis?

I brought the Lesmann home today after a trip up to Minneapolis and back with a side trip to Mickey's Diner in St. Paul. That's worth the 265 mile one way trip. So the total today was 530 miles and the Mazda averaged 27.9 mpg-not bad for a rolling barn of an SUV and word that the engine is finally getting broken in.

It is a peach, in very nice condition and I got a demonstration of how the Accordio-organ works. I did not purchase the accordion mostly because I can't play one but I was interested in seeing how the entire shebang operated.

The amplifier has an interconnect cable that goes between the accordion and the amplifier. I would guess that the accordion has some sort of organ like tone generator hardware, and I think that means it must be supplied with power through the interconnect cable.

I would think that the accordion itself was not made in the US but imported and modified by Lesmann. I saw one post that says it's a Giulietti but I've no way of verifying that. The owner says it's quite heavy.

It was very pleasant sounding and I expect that the amplifier was built for the kind of service that electric organs demand.

The person I got this from said that he'd had the setup for fifteen years or so and the previous owner was a person who played Persian folk music exclusively with this rig. It's got a tag on the back that says Terlinde Music, St. Paul, Minnesota, so it never strayed too far from home.

I do not know whether Terlinde Music still exists but I did find that Bob Dylan played a concert there on December 24, 1956. They sure knew talent for what that's worth.

I'll be cross posting stuff in the future from my FB page (Elderly Amplification). Visit it if you've got the time.

It's in very good cosmetic condition and had evidently been well cared for. It looks like it still has all the original RCA tubes in it so I'll check them out tomorrow and post some detailed pictures and notes thereafter.

Ohm On The Range: Wiring an Ampeg V4 Impedance Switch.

I've had a V4 here for quite a while because the owner was going through some changes, had a hiatus in Maryland for a year or so and is now back in town.

So I dragged it out of storage and got it up and running but it still had one of the original issues from the first time I saw it and that was, no 8 ohm output. 2 and 4 are fine but nix on the 8.

So the issue was either the switch was defective, incorrectly wired, or the output transformer was bad. It looked as if the output transformer was recent. I changed the switch with no improvement.
I spent way too much time researching this without success and in the end, made a trip to Polk City where a friend of mine has a similar amp so I could do an inspection and narrow the issue down.

When I pulled the chassis of Barry's amp out, two things were obvious. First, Ampeg had cut a corner of the chassis out so that the switch could be accessed and inspected without complete disassembly.
Second of all, the link between the second and third row of switch terminals had never been installed-I suspect, by the person who installed the output transformer.

This morning, it was the work of a few minutes to take a bit of wire, make a link, and solder it in place.

The moral of the story is never expect that work previously done was done right. As Reagan said "Trust-but verify. Play-but cut the cards. And never be afraid to see what you see."

I promise, I'll cross post stuff from my FB page in the future so the entire world can see some of the stuff I'm cookin up.

Stuff That Lasts Forever.

What's pictured above is a Westinghouse fan that was built in 1914 and does service as a ventilation fan in the bedroom of our house.  It does not oscillate which is good because the oscillating mechanisms on these sorts of fans does not survive as well.

It was acquired at an auction in Newton, Iowa about ten years ago and thereby hangs a tale. It looked as if it had never been used due to the way the power cord had been coiled up, but we got it home in a series of misadventures that included a rainstorm and passing the ultimate Iowa citizenship test-hitting a deer.

I still have the National Sportsman accordion amp I bought later that day but that is a relative youngster, having been made in 1953..

The fan runs more or less continuously here in the warm months and I put my hand on the motor frame to see how it's doing. When it runs a little slowly and the motor housing gets a little hot I know it's time to give it some maintenance. This usually consists of some high quality compressed air to blow the lint out of the housing and a cleaning and inspection of the oilers.

There are two knurled cylinders, one beneath each bushing that unscrew. Inside the cylinders are two felt wicks and springs which keep the wick in contact with the bushing.

When maintenance is needed the wicks can be cleaned with some gasoline, dried and re-oiled with some 3 In 1 machine oil. The oilers should not be overfilled because that can cause some splattering on your walls and such. Once you've oiled the wicks and replaced them the fan can be run upside down to allow the oil to penetrate and lubricate the bushings, and it's good for another couple of years.

It's a homily on how well things were made in the past and how they soldier on and shrug off the ravages of time. At 104 years and counting this one has paid its way. It's also a homily on the abysmal quality levels of the junk that passes for consumer goods these days.

The Wen Chainsaw Has To Choose: Get Going Or Go To The Curb

Here's another diversion from the subject of guitar amps.

I've been busy fixing things around the house lately. I have a Wen Lumberjack chainsaw I acquired a few years ago to assist in removal of some of the bushes in front of the house.

They were a species of dwarf cedar and it was necessary to buy a low priced chainsaw to help cut the roots and stumps out of the ground. The Wen Lumberjack is about the cheapest one you can buy at about ninety dollars if I recall correctly. That task was accomplished and some general cleanup around the property done, the chainsaw was put away.

That was about four or five years ago.

When I went to revive it I found that the fuel lines were rotted away. They were some sort of inferior grade of vinyl or latex rubber and they'd crumbled into mush. I ordered a parts kit which contained a set of carburetor gaskets, three or four squeeze bulbs about which more anon, a couple of strainers and the all important fuel hoses of the correct size.

And there it sat for a couple of years until today. I'd removed the remains of the fuel hoses and tried some vinyl from the hardware store but that was a flop. While doing some general cleaning and vacuuming in the garage I figured that today had to be the day.

The squeeze bulbs are a sort of primitive primer and nearly everything with a 2 cycle motor has them. The kit contained a complete assembly and a few extra plastic bulbs as well-good things to have around.

So today I pulled it all apart again and proceeded to replace the lines from the tank to the squeeze bulb and from the squeeze bulb to the Walbro carburetor.

There's a trick to this. The fuel hose from the tank to the squeeze bulb won't push through easily but you can cut the end on an angle and put a little bit of grease on them and it will pull right through. Then you can cut the end square, install the filter and put it all back together.

It still wouldn't start. Pulling the plug and heating it with a torch was no better. Then, I mixed up some fresh fuel and spooned a bit down the carburetor's tiny throat after blowing out the jets and gave it one more try.

I said to it, Listen. It's either run, right now, or you'll get lugged out to the curb and some fellow who's probably not half as nice as I am will play hob with you. Now. What's it going to be, friend?

It gave a few half hearted coughs and the rancid smell of decaying petroleum convinced me that what was needed was to dump out all the old premix and fill the tank up with fresh fuel. After a few fits and starts it purged itself of all the old fuel and now runs satisfactorily.

I'm not sure yet what I am going to do with it, but maybe I'll use it to harvest some firewood for the winter. As it happens, this is maybe why my string trimmer runs like crap and why I should flush out the fuel system.

So far the Toro mower and the elderly Snapper are up and running, but the Snapper is going into reserve status for national emergencies as the Toro does a better job of bagging. The pressure washer is up to par, the snowblower had its wheels and tires replaced, and the two leaf blower/vacuums are running nicely all by themselves. A new base was made for the drill press, I acquired a new circular saw and made enough parts for two or three amp stands, and all that's left is to cut up some steel and make a couple of bacon presses with the Miller welder. Plus, I cleaned up and organized a good part of the garage.

I think that a couple more workbenches are in my future as I do need a disassembly area and storage area for the amps. The garage floor is not adequate.

Not a bad two weeks for a guy who turned seventy yesterday.

Mowin' Down The Enemy: A Diversion

It is high summer here on the prairie and a young man's thoughts turn to yard work and how hateful a thing it is...not to mention it is mid July and that means mid October is only four months away.

A couple of things happened this week that were of interest and may prove useful in a technical sort of way.

Coming back from the grocery store last week I spotted a rather nice looking Toro walk behind mower parked at the curb. After we unloaded the groceries and put them away I got in the pickup and headed back and the mower was still there.

I knocked on the door and asked if the mower was unattached and the nice couple said "Take it, please." So I swung the tailgate down and off we went with a 2009 vintage self propelled walk behind mower. It appeared as if the recent heavy rains we had had briefly flooded the mower

I got it home and it did have compression which was good. After taking off the air filter so that I could dry it out I waited until after dark to see whether there was spark, and to my surprise there was.

Pull the spark plug out, then connect the plug to the wire and turn the engine over a few times by hand. If there's spark you'll see it. If not, you're going to have to get a magneto coil, but they're cheap enough on fleabay for the imported ones.

But it wouldn't start, so the next day I drained the fuel or what was left of it, pulled off the carburetor, blew out the jets and needle and seat, and put it back together.  It started on the first pull but  there was plenty enough emulsified oil and water in the crankcase to drain out and flush with a bit of gasoline. Then I put the air nozzle in and let it have a good proper blow job to air things out.

This is a pretty typical Briggs carburetor. It's got only three passage ways. Carefully detach it from the governor and choke linkage. Remove the bowl and clean it. Take some carburetor spray cleaner and blow out the main jet and idle jets and the fuel inlet passage where the needle and seat goes. check the operation of each passage with a bit of compressed air. Make sure the float is not sunk and the needle shuts off fuel when the float's up. Clean out the sediment well in the fuel bowl drain plug.

That's all there is to it.


Fresh oil-about a pint of detergent 30W- and fuel, and all seems well. I've got a good solid mower for nothing except an hour's worth of work. The drain plug is a 3/8 square pipe plug that sits in the bottom of the crankcase, or you can tip the mower on its side and drain the oil through the filler neck.

While all this was happening the other mower, the Snapper Ninja self propelled number that has been my workhorse for the last five or six years-it came out of an auction for twenty five bucks and it is at least 25 years old- started having problems with the transmission drive.

So I got out the parts manual and ordered some transmission bearings, a drive belt, an idler pulley and a drive disk from Snapper-which happens to be the cheapest source of parts I found.

After cleaning off the rust and dead grass and treating the deck with some rust stopping compound, I reassembled it yesterday and today with some new hardware, and while I was doing that I cooked up a good workaround that had never occurred to me before.

Clean off the corrosion and dead grease that coats everything. Buy your replacement carriage bolts at the hard ware store for a quarter instead of paying $2.35 for one plus shipping.

This mower has two springs that tension the drive mechanism components. Once the drive is assembled you gotta get the springs on but it proved difficult-until I wrapped some safety wire around one end of the spring and grabbed it with my safety wire twisters and pulled it through the hole. Nice.

Take a good look at the springs number 39 and 54. While you're at it look carefully at 73, which is a twisted piece of coat hanger wire that some people want twelve dollars for.

That went swimmingly, and the drive mechanism is functional and working smoothly.

Tomorrow I've got to see about changing both inner tubes on the snow blower's tires, change the oil and drain out the old gas and get it ready for winter. Then it's time for the pressure washer, the string trimmer, the chainsaw and likely the leaf blower too.